Demand for business events to China is gaining momentum and buyers are eager to reconnect following the removal of Covid-19 test requirements on August 30, 2023, but the number of hoops they have to jump through has increased.

Violet Wang, managing director of Realm and president, SITE China Chapter, commented: “Many companies are aggressively seeking to reconnect and the removal of pre-entry ART testing is a positive sign.

“But the lack of seat capacity and visa application difficulties remain the main issues for international inbound. The reduction in hospitality service capacity and the booming domestic travel market, which has changed China’s business events landscape, are also major challenges.”

Kin Qin, deputy general manager, Century Travel Holiday Group, which specialises in inbound from South-east Asia, noted business recovery has reached 10 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

However, she pointed out that some RFPs, in particular for Beijing, cannot be responded to as “prices are unstable”.

As such, “Century is looking at Guangdong, which is less expensive, and there is also supply in places like Guangzhou (the capital) and Shenzhen”, shared Qin.

Recently, Century organised an incentive trip recently for some 300 employees of Panasonic from Malaysia, and visited Hong Kong and Macau, instead of the mainland. This is because nationals from 170 countries have visa-free access to Hong Kong, and nationals from 79 countries can travel to Macau visa-free within a certain duration of stay.

However, Qin remains confident in China’s draw. She opined: “China is a popular destination for Indonesian, Malaysian and Singapore business events, (where we work) with smaller groups between 20 and 300 people. Prices should stabilise and 2024 will be better.”

That is why Qin and the general manager of a Beijing-based DMC usually advise planners to take advantage of China’s 144-hour/six-day transit visa, which is still available.

The general manager added that planners could consider Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Hainan, where individual travellers from 59 countries can enter visa-free directly from overseas.

She added: “I’m recommending the transit visa to longhaul incentive groups, also because transit flights are cheaper compared to direct flights.”

With European and American incentives planning eight-day trips, the Beijing DMC is partnering with counterparts in Seoul and Tokyo to create four-day/three-night itineraries combined with Beijing or Shanghai.

“We have designed programmes like this, and for the meeting planner or organiser, the visa fee portion is reduced,” she noted.

Currently, China group visa fees range from US$40 to US$110 per person, and there are extra charges for expedited application approvals.

A travel technology solutions provider shared that corporate travel to China was doing well with C-suites wanting to “reconnect with teams and suppliers”.

He expects regional corporate meeting groups to return to China next year, and is planning to capitalise on China reinstating its 15-day visa-free entry for citizens of Singapore since July 26.

Another corporate travel manager expressed the need for more clarity on visa applications and conditions.

He stated: “A high-level leader from the US wanted to change his itinerary to include a trip to another province at the last minute. The travel team had to seek clarification if it was ok for him to change at will, or if he needed to stick to the declared itinerary on his visa application.

“In the end, we had to get in touch with China immigration for guidance. (It looks like) the expertise of visa agents is required, as it is not just processing and reading of instructions.”

He added another issue that surfaced was the requirement to declare job history on the visa application among other potentially sensitive info.